Warren
by Tess DiCorsi
Summary: Speculation based on "The Gold Standard" absence.


Disclaimer: Just taking them out for a spin. Promise to return everything in pristine condition.

* * *

**spec·u·late** (spek yə lāt): Form a theory or conjecture about a subject without firm evidence.

* * *

"Where the hell were you, man? You were supposed to be here over an hour ago." Jake Tilley was a jumpy bastard when push came to shove.

"I told you I'd be here after midnight. It's after midnight. Calm down." Warren Borden climbed out of his Lexus SUV - well not his SUV, someone's SUV but it was his for the night - and walked toward Tilley. He looked around for Tilley's brother Larry but didn't see him. "Where's the cash?"

"I thought you trusted us."

"You thought wrong. Cash or I'm gone."

"You sure you want to do that?" Larry Tilley came out from behind a pallet of mattresses. Rundown warehouses in bad neighborhoods were never good meeting places. Then again, Jake and Larry - Jake's dumber and more violent brother - weren't cocktails at the bar of the Four Seasons types. Larry pulled out his Sig P224 and theatrically slammed the clip into the gun. All that was missing was Larry adding "Say hello to my little friend."

"Yeah, Larry, I'm sure I want to do that. You boys need guns, I can supply guns. We can do this my way or I can leave." Borden moved closer to Jake. "Put the gun away," Borden told Larry as he stood next to Jake.

Larry wasn't very bright. He pointed his weapon at Borden. "You're really not in a position to be giving orders, asshole."

In an almost effortless movement, Borden pulled his gun from his waist holster. He grabbed Jake and pushed the barrel of the gun into the already jumpy man's mouth. "Put. The Gun. Down. Larry," Borden instructed.

The back driver side door of the SUV opened. Charlie Mitchell popped out with a high powered rifle with a laser scope pointed right at Larry.

Borden looked at Mitchell and nodded. "Here's how it goes, Larry. You put the gun down, we complete our transaction and everyone goes home alive. You don't put the gun down, Charlie here blows your empty head off. You maybe squeeze off a shot and if you're really lucky, you shoot me. Not lucky, Jake. Involuntary muscle spasm when I'm hit and my finger will pull the trigger, putting an awesome hole where the back of your brother's skull use to be. Charlie drags me to a hospital, you two die here. Oh yeah, we'll have the money and the guns. Your move."

Jake was making noises that Borden was pretty sure would have been pleas to his brother to put the weapon down but the Beretta in his mouth made voicing his concerns difficult. Larry started to put the gun down.

"Toss the clip to me, throw the empty gun behind the SUV, got it?" Mitchell ordered.

Larry complied.

"Back to my first question, where's the money?" Borden removed the gun from Jake's mouth as he released him.

A shaking Jake pointed to an Igloo cooler. Borden walked over, toed the lid open with his boot and saw some neatly stacked twenties, tied with a rubber bands. No banks for these brain surgeons.

"Where are our guns?" Jake asked.

Borden gave Jake some credit. Even after an uncomfortable turn of events, jumpy Jake was all business. Borden nodded to Mitchell who moved to the back of the SUV. Pointing to Larry, Mitchell told him "Come here shithead, I need help unloading the guns."

Mitchell put on a pair of work gloves and took one rope handle of a crate. Larry Tilley took the other. The two took the crate near Jake and Borden. Mitchell went to the back of the SUV and returned with a crowbar.

"How long will you need to put together a bigger order?" Jake asked as he watched Mitchell opened the crate and showed the 20 Sig 716 rifles to their prospective owners.

"You tell me what you need, I'll tell you when you can get them," Borden told him in a bored tone. "Supply is my responsibility. Coming up with the money is yours." Borden pointed to Mitchell and the cooler of cash. "You need more, you know where to call."

"And tell baby brother here that the next time he pulls a gun," Mitchell said as he took the cooler and put it in the back seat of the car, "it will be the last time he pulls a gun and the last thing you, Jake, will ever see."

"Hey!" Larry objected as Mitchell tossed his gloves and the crowbar on the mat in the back of the SUV and slammed the door closed.

When Mitchell and Borden started getting in the SUV, Borden sighed. "Jake, I know Larry is your brother and you're in business together but he's going to get you killed one of these days. I came here do to business and that's what I've done. Larry decided to make this into a pissing contest. I'll remember that next time. So will Charlie. Either way, Larry's bad for business and maybe I won't want to do business next time if he's involved. So you're on notice. One more fuck up from old Lar here and we're done."

"Nothing to worry about going forward, Warren. I promise." Jake Tilley glared at his brother.

Borden and Mitchell left the Tilley brothers behind and started home. As Borden turned the SUV onto the Santa Monica Freeway for the drive back to Brentwood, he took a deep breath and called the sale in.

After the joint task force was updated, Marty Deeks drove Ray Martindale back to the safe house in Brentwood. The two rode in comfortable silence. They've been working the Tilley brothers for a month and finally got the deal done.

As they pulled into the two-car garage of the rather nice four bedroom home off Highwood Street, Deeks was not happy to see the lights on. He was hoping to pick up his car and drive home. Obviously, the task force wanted a debrief.

Tom Baker of the ATF was actually standing by Deeks's car in the garage when the SUV pulled in. "Nice work men," Baker told Deeks and Ray. "You wore the gloves, right Ray?"

"Yes, sir. Kept the crate on the mat and will dump my clothes and the gloves in the tub in the washroom when we're done."

"The money is in a beer cooler on the back seat. Nothing but first class business moves from the Tilley brothers. Are we done here?" Deeks was tired and wanted to go home. Three days as Warren Borden was three days too many.

"You didn't touch the guns, Detective?"

"Are you kidding?" Ray chuckled. "My main man Marty is the brains of this team, I'm the muscle. He didn't get his hands dirty. He's the lawyer, I'm the guns and there's your money."

"You're sure? That tracking spray on the crate and on the guns just doesn't wash off."

"Didn't touch anything. Are we done here?" Please say yes, Deeks thought, I want to go home.

"Granger called. He needs to talk to you. Tonight."

"More like this morning," Deeks said more to himself than to Baker. Deeks turned to Ray. "Be good to the Marshals. I'll be back sometime this week."

"Bring scotch," Ray said in an exaggerated whisper. "And maybe that gorgeous partner of yours." Walking into the safe house, Ray told Baker, "You have to see Marty's partner. If I knew there were women like that in law enforcement, I may have tried police work as a career."

Deeks got into his car and called Granger before leaving the Brentwood house. The Assistant Director wanted a meeting immediately at the boathouse. Perfect.

As he entered the boathouse, Deeks was surprised to see Hetty sitting at the table. "An early good morning to you, Hetty," he said brightly. Eyeing Granger standing near the plasma screen, he just said "Assistant Director."

"How did the meet go tonight?" Hetty asked.

"Fine. Jake's as jumpy as hell, Larry's an idiot and Ray's back in the safe house. The ATF swears the guns have been sprayed with a chemical tracking device on the odd chance that they're not in the house when the DEA raids the place tomorrow. Later today, whatever."

"They have been sprayed and the DEA raid with LAPD is scheduled before noon." Granger told Deeks. "The guns will be discovered as a happy coincidence when your narcotics division and the DEA shuts down the brother's pot business. If your intelligence is right, Loomis should contact Martindale or you in the next day or so."

"The intelligence is right. Ray's Charlie should be hearing from Clete Loomis once the Tilleys are out of the picture. Then I want Ray out of the picture, too. This isn't what he signed up for and I need real back-up."

"Martindale signed that agreement to keep his family in witness protection..."

"...after Jenna was set up."

"Mrs. Martindale was caught red-handed."

"Jenna over-billed a client by seven hundred dollars. She's running a busy bakery with Ray, she's got two children under the age of three and sent two separate invoices for the same job. It was a software error."

"It was fraud. And she and her husband agreed to the deal."

"They agreed to the deal because you failed three times to set Ray up and Ray didn't want to see her put on trial for entering something in the wrong column in Quickbooks."

"Gentlemen..." Hetty tried to bring some calm to the conversation.

"No Hetty, Ray's going home. I've met Loomis, too. He and Ray could talk guns all day but he knows I'm the business end of things. He'll call Ray but he'll have to deal with me."

"Martindale stays until Loomis is caught and his distribution network is a memory," Granger ordered.

"Then I'm out."

"Excuse me, Detective?"

"If Ray's in, I'm out."

"You don't get to make that decision. You were brought into this task force because of Mr. Martindale's knowledge of the local gun running scene and your history with him."

"I was brought into this task force because I've done this before, this same bust before, just the names are different. Nelson Sander's useless ass sitting in jail is the proof." Deeks looked at Hetty. "Send Ray home."

"She's not making the decisions Detective, I am."

"'Cause you're an ambitious man, aren't you Assistant Director?" Deeks snapped.

Granger's eyes narrowed. "You've spoken with Agent Blye."

"Mr. Deeks?"

"Ask the Assistant Director. Or maybe the Director-in-Waiting. Either way, if Ray's in, I'm out."

"So you won't mind going back to LAPD if the liaison position is eliminated? If they'll have you, that is."

"Assuming you have that kinda juice and considering how things ended for your last operative in a gun running case who was sent in without proper backup, I'm fine with being sent back to LAPD. I'll be more than happy to send my case status report for this operation to them, NCIS, the FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE and everyone on the task force explaining my reason for leaving."

"You didn't get your way so you quit," Granger offered his version.

"I'm being sent out with improper back-up and on a gun running case by the same NCIS Assistant Director who sent out Special Agent Mike Renko without back-up either. See what that does for your ambitions. Renko had friends and lots of them in NCIS, the LAPD, DEA and ATF. Tough to go into a command position without the respect of your underlings, two major federal law enforcement agencies and the third largest police force in the country."

"Agent Blye will miss working with you."

"But you have plans for her too, don't you. Hang me out to dry, swoop in and save the talented Agent Blye from the noose of a partner hanging around her neck."

"You said that Detective, I didn't." Granger's tone was dismissive.

"Well, if LAPD won't have me maybe I can brush off the old law degree and call a reporter I know who is an ambitious man too. I can explain the story of a reformed man set up three times by the ATF and FBI while in WITSEC and did the right thing every time. I'm sure the Marshal Service will just love an expose that tells future WITSEC candidates that they're ripe for being set-up and dragged back into their old lives. May even look to see if that's been done before. A class action lawsuit against the Marshals Service, add them to the LAPD, DEA and ATF. You're making friends by the minute."

Granger sighed. "Are you done?"

"And let's not forget the reformed man's wife who was brought up on very questionable charges. Since the reformed man wasn't going to let his wife, the mother of two toddlers and a small business owner, face a trial, he gets pushed into a law enforcement sting that as of two hours ago gave twenty automatic weapons to a twitchy drug dealer and his brother, the moron muscle. Imagine that."

"That's enough, Detective," Granger warned.

"Washington wants automatic weapons off the street and an Assistant Director at NCIS, one I will make sure is mentioned by name over and over again in my reporter friend's story, just approved the sale of twenty of them to convicted drug dealers living with their mom in Santa Clarita." Deeks took a deep breath. "God help you if those guns get on the street. I'll quit my job tomorrow and and dedicate everything I have to suing the task force, the ATF, the Marshals, NCIS and your ass personally on behalf of Ray, Jenna and any victims of those weapons."

"Gentlemen, enough. Mr. Deeks, go home. Get some rest. I'll tell the team you called and your plane was delayed. I expect to see you in the office around one." She turned her attention to Granger. "I'm going to call Mr. Baker tomorrow morning. I believe this is a good time for Mr. Martindale to be reunited with his family. If ATF does not have an undercover operative who can work with Mr. Deeks, I'm sure Agent Callen fills the bill as a suitable business associate of Warren Borden."

"Get those guns back Assistant Director," Deeks added emphasis on 'assistant' said as he headed to the door. "See you later, Hetty."

Deeks was too exhausted to be angry driving home. His day started with an operational meeting at eight in the morning with the ATF, DEA and ICE, followed by a status report to Leon Vance, the NCIS Red Team and FBI working inside Clete Loomis's operation at noon and now it was twenty after three. He figured ATF, DEA, FBI, ICE, NCIS or some other alphabet agency had to have someone who could fill in for Ray. Larry the moron pulling his gun was just another reminder that no official training and over eighteen months as a civilian made Ray an easy target.

If it wasn't so early in the morning, he'd call Kensi. If he wasn't so tired, he'd get something to eat. Hopefully there was something edible left over in the fridge.

When he got home, Monty's dog bed was away from the front window and his bedroom door was closed. His B&E instincts kicked in - find the dog, put the dog somewhere out of the way. He pulled his gun, checking the living room, kitchen and bathroom - all clear. Same with the hall and linen closets. Deeks slowly opened the bedroom door, only to see Monty in his dog bed by the balcony door and Kensi sound asleep in his bed. He grabbed a clean tee-shirt and boxers before closing the door.

Back to the kitchen, he found some left-over Chinese food from a place by Kensi's apartment in the fridge and figured he'd pop it into the microwave after a shower. He was rinsing the shampoo out of his hair when he heard the bathroom door open.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Kensi yawned as she pushed down the toilet seat lid and sat down.

"You and Monty looked so peaceful I didn't have the heart. Plus it's about quarter to four. I'm eating your left over chicken and broccoli. The ATF didn't feed me tonight." He turned the shower off and grabbed a towel.

"How did it go tonight?"

"Before or after the shouting match with Granger?"

"Granger was there?"

"At the buy, no. That's grunt work for worker bees like me. I got summonsed to the boathouse after giving two drug dealers twenty semi-automatic weapons. Remind me again that I'm one of the good guys," he asked of her as he toweled off.

She stood and kissed him on the cheek. "You're one of the good guys. You just spend too much time hanging around with the bad guys. Tell me about Granger."

"Lemme eat first," he said as he threw on his boxers and tee-shirt. Deeks wondered why Kensi was smiling when he said that. Walking into the kitchen, he realized why. On the breakfast bar, he found she nuked his dinner, putting it on a plate with utensils and a napkin on a placemat. "Who are you and what have you done with Kensi Blye?"

"I don't eat everything out of paper cartons with a plastic fork."

"No, there's aluminum tins, styrofoam and plastic containers and don't sell yourself short Kensi, you wield a mean spork," Deeks teased as he grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. "You want one?"

She shook her head no. "Is that a good idea? It is almost four."

"Probably not but Hetty gave me the morning off. I got delayed in Sacramento, I'll send you a text." Deeks told her as he sat. "Thanks for this, Kensi."

Kensi smiled, sitting across from him at the breakfast bar. "Tell me about Granger."

"I want Ray out. Ray wants out but is playing along to protect Jenna," Deeks shoveled some of the chicken into his mouth. "Oh God, this is good. Anyway, Larry, the dumb Tilley, decides to go all badass on the deal. We took care of that situation but I've got one jittery drug dealer, his dumber than dirt brother, a civilian in Ray and twenty automatic weapons on the street. I need less things to worry about. Sending Ray home and getting me real back-up would be a big help."

"I agree on the back-up. What did Granger say?"

"Ray's staying. Ray owes the government. Everything he said when Ray got pulled into this."

"You and Ray got pulled into this," Kensi corrected him.

"I do this for a living. Ray's been setting up catering tables and delivering cakes to fancy hotels in Portland for the last year and a half." Deeks took a long pull on his beer. "You sure you don't want some," he said as he pointed to what was left of the food.

"No thanks. This isn't Ray's first rodeo. He knows his way around."

"He knew his way around before he had a wife and two kids. OK, he had a different wife at one point but he's a civilian and I wasn't thrilled he was so involved in this."

"Can you talk to Hetty?"

"She was there. Your name came up."

"Good or bad?"

"Good and bad," he told her as he picked up his plate and rinsed it off. He put it and the utensils the dishwasher. "I mentioned Granger's ambitions in our little shouting match."

"Finally. I told you about that weeks ago."

"And I told you I was biding my time. Biding over."

"What was his reaction?"

"Less interested in his reaction than Hetty's."

"What were their reactions?" Kensi asked. "Granger first. No, Hetty. No, Granger."

"Granger responded exactly as I expected. Said I spoke to you, which obviously I do. Often. In a variety of times, locations, positions." Deeks cocked his eyebrow at Kensi.

"You're talking about Granger and you're leering at me. Eww.."

"Oh God, you're right." Deeks shuddered. "Anyway, Granger pulled rank and tried to threaten me. I threatened back. Think it was a draw."

"And Hetty?"

"Hetty's interest went way up when I called Granger 'Director-in-Waiting' at one point. I think Hetty has a fan in Leon Vance and vice versa. She doesn't want to be answering to Granger anymore than she is right now."

"So you think she's on our side."

"My side. As much as I know you have my back, this is my side right now. You don't know anything until I can get Hetty to bring the team in."

"When do you think that will happen?"

"Hetty brought up Callen possibly replacing Ray in the case. That will be entertaining, an op where Callen has to take orders from me." Deeks stifled a yawn.

"So you'll be in for lunch tomorrow?" Kensi stood and walked over to him.

Deeks looked at Kensi head to toe. She was far too beautiful for anyone woman wearing just a plain white tank top and a pair of navy blue boyshorts at 4AM. "Do you want me to buy you lunch?"

"I did buy dinner."

"Yes, you did." He kissed her on the forehead and offered her the last of his beer. When she shook her head no Deeks drained the little left and tossed it in his recycling bin. Turning to Kensi, he smiled. "I like a woman who keeps her wits about her."

"Monty's asleep."

"We'll be extra quiet." Deeks kissed her a bit more thoroughly as they walked to the bedroom. "Besides, he's a deep sleeper."

* * *

"Oh look who finally shows up," Sam eyed Deeks over his laptop.

"Please Sam, save your heartfelt welcome back. I know you missed me." Deeks breezed into the bullpen area with two large shopping bags.

"Oh, presents from Sacramento?" Kensi asked.

"No, not a lot of gift shopping opportunities at the Sacramento airport Hilton Gardens Inn. Passed a group of food trucks on the way in." Deeks put the shopping bags down on his desk and started pulling out food tins and paperbags. "Shrimp curry for you and Callen, that Greek truck that has the gyros and donuts Kensi loves and fish tacos for me and Eric."

"Awesome," Kensi rubbed her hands together greedily before taking the brown bag of goodness.

"Anything for me in the bag, Mr. Deeks?" Hetty joined the group.

"Grilled pork banh mi." Deeks handed Hetty the sandwich. "I have that Molly Rachett bacon burger maple syrup thing Nell likes."

"To what do we owe this culinary delight?" Callen asked as he made quick work of his meal.

"Three days of sitting in a room full of lawyers continuing my legal education was a reminder of why I'm not a lawyer full-time."

"Before you dig into your meal, Mr. Deeks, I'd like a moment. Perhaps Miss Blye could call up to Mr. Beale and Miss Jones."

Deeks followed Hetty and her banh mi to her office. "This was a nice gesture," Hetty pointed to the guest chair as she sat behind her desk.

"I'll expense it to the task force."

"Just so you know, the LAPD and DEA raided Laura Tilley's residence at 11:30AM this morning. Nineteen of the weapons were found in a crate in Jake's room, Larry took one for himself. That was found in his car."

"So they make that bust two hours later and maybe double-digit IQ Larry is running around town with an automatic weapon courtesy of me. Dammit."

"Mr. Deeks, the weapons are back with the ATF, Jake and Larry Tilley are in custody and you know better than to traffic in maybes."

"Did they get the pot, too?"

"There was a rather impressive growhouse set-up in the basement according to Agent Harris of the DEA. How they didn't think they'd be caught is just beyond me. Most homes in that area have a monthly electric bill around nine hundred dollars. The Tilleys were averaging over eleven thousand dollars a month."

"Jake told me the profits from the gun business were going for a down payment on a warehouse near LAX. He could triple their pot business and finally move out of their mother's house."

"Housing will not be a concern of the the Tilley brothers for the next five to fifteen years." Hetty leaned forward. "I spoke to Tom Baker and Al Collins of the Marshals Service about Mr. Martindale."

"And?"

"They agree with you that Mr. Martindale is woefully under-trained for this assignment. You and Ray may be at dinner after Mr. Loomis contacts Warren Borden or Charlie Mitchell when the police arrest Mitchell for a parole violation. Assistant Director Granger has passed along his objection but the FBI was never happy about Ray's involvement."

"Or mine."

"Agent Lausten is still unhappy about how the FBI was treated in the Driscoll case."

"Well, I've been in the business end of how NCIS treats other law enforcement agencies when they want the case. I'd still be angry with NCIS if you didn't show up with a job offer that afternoon."

"You seemed angry with NCIS last night."

"I was angry with Assistant Director Granger and only Granger. Larry Tilley pulled a gun and Ray had to do more than just move the guns. I would prefer someone other than a civilian as my back-up. I trust Ray but I'm supposed to make sure he doesn't get killed, not the other way around."

"And the 'Director-in-Waiting' comment?"

Deeks figured Hetty knew that was as much for her benefit as a knock on Granger. "I had some time to think about something Kensi at the end of last week when we were staking out the laundromat on West Covina."

"What did Miss Blye say?"

"I was bored and she was complaining that I was easily distracted by shiny objects."

"So a regular stake-out for the two of you," Hetty joking made Deeks feel better about where the conversation was going.

"Pretty much. One thing led to another and Kensi started telling me what happened to her while I spent my first day with the troublesome two Tilleys."

"The Assistant Director went into the field with her. She didn't tell you that until last week?"

"No, she mentioned it in passing when I returned but when I told her I'd be out three days catching up with my MCLE classes to keep my law license, she wanted some guarantee she'd be Granger-less while I was gone."

"For all our problems with him, Owen Granger is a gifted investigator and was an excellent agent."

"Kensi didn't say a word about his investigating skills, which probably means he's fine on a case. No, she told me that he looked at their time together that day as an evaluation. When she tried to joke with him about it, he told her that he didn't plan on being an Assistant Director forever and she needs to think about the future."

Hetty gave Deeks that same look he saw when he called Granger the Director-in Waiting. He figured he'd finish Granger off. "Hetty, look at your team." Deeks turned around to see Nell sitting on Deeks's desk, feet swinging as she enjoyed her burger. Eric was eating as he sat in Deeks's desk chair while Callen, Sam and Kensi enjoyed their lunches at their desks. They were talking, laughing and enjoying their time together.

Turning back to Hetty, Deeks explained, "They're all awesome but if you were starting a team tomorrow, and you are as ambitious as Granger seems to be, well, Callen is a great undercover operative but he comes with his own set of issues. Sam's sense of right and wrong makes him a great field agent but a lousy office politics guy. Eric would never function well outside of Los Angeles and he and Nell may be the reason this team moves so well but Granger would never see that. Director Vance's background was in the Cyber Crimes Unit. Granger wants to be the anti-Vance."

"And that leaves..."

"Kensi. In the last year, Granger's seen her solve a fifteen-year-old cold case concerning her father that NCIS, the CIA and Granger himself got wrong. She's incapable of walking way from an injustice. She's real smart, multilingual, has a sniper's shooter's eye. She's good with a knife and a top flight investigator. If you were starting a team tomorrow Hetty, how fast would you recruit Kensi?"

"But I already did recruit Miss Blye, Mr. Deeks. As I've recruited you. You seem to forget you're a part of the team when you did your assessment."

"I'm a cop."

"A police officer who Assistant Director Granger personally chose for this assignment."

"Because if it all goes to hell, my guess is it becomes my fault, your fault and ultimately Director Vance's fault. NCIS, DEA, FBI, ATF, ICE, M-O-U-S-E - they all have people in different aspects of Loomis's business. Granger has nothing to lose with me. If my end of the investigation works, the NCIS part of the operation is a success and Granger is the man running it. If my end of the investigation fails, Granger had an under-qualified cop recruited by you and allowed to work inside the agency by Director Vance. How could Granger succeed with someone like me?"

"Do you believe operationally you'll fail?"

"No. But operationally, I'd be better off with real back-up and not Ray. Operationally, I'd be in a better frame of mind if Kensi, Callen and everyone else were a part of this investigation. Last time, I kept Kensi out of the loop, she kept me out of the loop of an investigation she was running. Because of that, we have Granger showing up here, Kensi's a murder suspect and Sam, Callen and I are trying to catch up with her before she's alone in a house with her father's killer." Deeks sighed. "I don't like lying to them."

"I will again recommend the entire team is read in, though Miss Jones did set up Warren Borden's legend."

"Without knowing it was for me."

"In the meantime Detective, mocking the Assistant Director is far more effective than yelling at him. Men like Owen are good at dealing with angry operatives, he's done it his entire career. He's not prepared for some of your more cheeky taunts. Those are new to him," Hetty told Deeks. Looking at her team and then at Deeks, she said "You best join everyone before they get suspicious."

"Yeah, they are highly trained investigators."

"And Mr. Deeks, I got your certificate from the MCLE. Your continuing legal education classes are complete through 2014. That's planning ahead."

Deeks stood. "Three days on the Van Buren, Hetty. There's only so many times I was willing to be humiliated by Kensi playing pool, ping pong and cribbage. I took my laptop to the brig and finished my classes when Callen needed a break. I'm professionally up-to-date with the California State Bar, I've re-qualified with LAPD in October and I'm even where I should be with my DoD training. Granger is going to have to find another reason for me to be missing."

"Why do I have the feeling that's not accidental?" Hetty asked as she unwrapped her lunch.

"Because you're a highly trained investigator too."

Deeks walked back to the group. "So, what did I miss while I was gone?"

-30-

Since I got about everything possible wrong on my post-"San Voir" speculation story, why not try again?

Happy New Year!


End file.
